Deputy Walid Junblatt attacks allies in taped private session“When I was talking about the 50% plus one [to elect Maronite Nassib Lahoud as president], constitutionally speaking, we could have brought Nassib Lahoud to power [a move strenuously opposed by the two main Shi'i parties Amal and Hezbollah]. But at the time I saw what’s his name, Samir Geagea, and saw how the Christians were hoping we would clash with the Shi’is so that they can sit back and watch. Even some Sunnis were hoping for that. We saw what the Sunnis did in Beirut. He [Future Movement Leader Sa’d al-Hariri] brought 1,000 men from Akkar and they did not last 15 minutes. They were hoping we would clash with each other so they can sit back and watch”. In response to a partisan who demanded that the status of the Druze be improved, Junblatt stated: “I believe that our head is still high. We were not defeated. At the same time, we cannot proceed with a psychological, political and sectarian war against the Shi’is”.
“The Sheikh interfered to say: “With all due respect to you and to your perception of the situation, I believe that there is no point behind the hostility toward the Shi’is. A specific event occurred and that was it”. A man then interfered and said: “Sheikh, we are all with you and with Walid Junblatt. We will follow you regardless of the decision you make”. Junblatt thus added: “The elections will not entail any drastic changes. Our problem in the Shouf is that we are no longer part of one list due to the resurfacing of isolationism. Unfortunately, bad breeds will always be bad. Sa’d al-Hariri experimented with us, made promises to Ghattas [Khoury] and got us here. We are going to try to fix the problem during the coming two days, and if it is not fixed, I will close the list in the face of Dori Chamoun and Ghattas Khoury.” - tayyar.org, Lebanon
